Recipe: Cranberry Bread

Like cookies, it's sugary and habit-forming -- but it's easy to wrap and travels well. Like fruitcake and stollen, it's self-consciously seasonal and fruity -- but not alienating.

It takes almost no time at all to make and you can double or triple the recipe easily, assuming you have a large enough bowl.

Plus, it keeps in the fridge for weeks and tastes incredibly good with cream cheese. For added value, put a brick of Philadelphia cream cheese on top of each loaf before tying a ribbon around it.

The secret to this quick bread's moist, confection-like interior is lots and lots of brown sugar.

Another important component is fresh orange juice, which contributes acid to react with baking soda and lighten the bread and also complements the bracing tartness of the cranberries. Don't use store-bought orange juice; you'll have to buy fresh oranges for their zest, anyway, and they'll yield approximately the amount of juice you need to moisten the batter.